Church provides health centre for Yelwan-Zuba community

RESIDENTS of the rusty settlement of Yelwan Zuba, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will not forget the gesture any time soon.

Foursquare Gospel Church provided a befitting healthcare centre for the community.

The settlement is located about 13 kilometers off Zuba/Suleja Expressway. It is about 30 minutes drive on a rusty, untarred road from the other side of the College of Education.

At a point, the road is almost cut into two. The only visible presence of government was in the ETF primary school buildings. No presence of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and so the people rely heavily on generators.

Besides, the communities also lack healthcare facilities and had to travel over 13 kilometers to be able to access modern health facilities.

Their challenges came to an end as the church in Kubwa brought a smile to the residents’ faces by providing a fully equipped health centre for the area.

The facility is to provide primary healthcare services for the 10 communities in the settlement.

The project started about 10 years ago as a medical mission and did not continue until 2010. The foundation of the health centre and the community church was laid in 2011. The two structures were completed in November 2012 at the cost of about N4m.

The church has also employed the service of a medical doctor and a nurse who will be on hand weekly, while a resident midwife and a nurse have also been engaged to run the centre.

Commissioning the centre, the District Overseer, Rev. Isaac Komolafe said the centre is part of the church’s contribution to the development and wellbeing of the society.

He also noted that the issue of development and provision of services should not be left to the government alone, stressing that government cannot do it alone, hence the need for the church to come in here as part of its medical evangelism.

He also added that the church is following the footsteps of Jesus Christ who went about doing good.

The pastor further assured members of the Yelwan-Zuba communities that with the presence of the church in the area, light and development will follow suit.

On the medical team to man the health centre, the pastor said they are all missionary medical personnel. So they are not going to do the work because of the money but as missionaries who have agreed to stay among the people.

The Community Chief, Zaki Abdulahi Musa who was filled with joy commended the church and assured the people of his support.

Abdulahi who had to abandon his other engagement to be part of the ceremony assured the church of his support, saying since the health centre is for the good of the people, he and the community would do everything possible to support the medical team.

He adviced the medical team to go about their duties in a professional way.

Some of the villagers who commented on the establishment of the centre were full of praises for the church.

They noted that the gesture will in so many ways reduce the suffering of the people who otherwise would have continued to travel for kilometers to get medical atttention.

They also noted that there were occasions when the community lost its members as a result of the long walk to get medical attention in other communities.

Mallam Abubakar, assistant Imam of the community, said the community has a lot of problems in the past.

Citing the pains the people went through, he said if women were to give birth or there was an emergency, it took a lot of time to get to the nearest health centre.

“For the church to have the mind of doing such a thing here, we thank them and we pray that God will bless and reward them.

“This health centre will reduce the suffering and pains of the people.”